Hollow building block



Nov. 10, 1942. J, w, AKAM 2,301,672

HOLLOW BUILDING BLOCK Filed Feb. 15, 19 40 Patented Nov. 10, 1942 HOLLOWBUILDING BLOCK John W. Akam, Aldershot, Ontario, Canada, as-

signor to National Fireproofing Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application February 15, 1940, Serial No.319,061 In Canada December 23, 1939 3 Claims.

My invention relates to hollow building blocks or tiles of the extrudedtype employed in the construction of walls and has for its object animproved construction including a grip for handling and laying the tile.

Hollow building tiles are too large to be grasped in one hand by aworkman in the process of laying a wall and to obviate this diflicultysuch tiles have in the past been provided with a hand grip. The objectof myinvention is to provide a tile with an improved hand grip wherebythe tile is easily grasped and, when grasped, will be in balance so thatwith one hand it can be easily moved to position on the structure beingconstructed.

The object and advantages of my invention will be best understood uponconsideration of the following detailed description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawing in which the same reference charactersrefer to the same parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tile in accordance with my invention;and

Fig. 2 illustrates a section of wall incorporating tile in accordancewith my invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, reference character I represents the bottom Wall ofthe tile, 2 and 3 represent the top bearing walls and 4 and 5 representthe external walls. Spaced from the walls 4 and 5 are a pair of verticalwebs 6 and 1, respectively. A horizontal stiffening web 8 extendsbetween the side walls 4 and 5. In the channel 9 in the upper face ofthe tile located between the weightbearing sides of the tile constitutedby the wall 4 and web 6 and by wall 5 and web 1 is located a handle In.The handle consists of a web which extends upwardly from the horizontalweb 8, which in its central part constitutes the bottom of the channel9. The handle I8 is of general hook form in cross-section and extendsfrom about the central portion of the web 8, approaches the web 1 andthen projects to about the central plane of the channel, so that its endII is located about in the central plane of the channel 9 and below theupper surface of the tile.

The tile having the cross-sectional shape described above is designed tobe extruded through a die and, as extruded, may be cut off into desiredlengths in the manner well-known in the art. The outer Walls, I, 2, 3, 4and 5, are provided with mortar-retaining grooves 12 in the mannerwell-known in the art.

The provision of the handle l0 with the projecting end II at the centralvertical plane of the tile provides ample room for the fingers of 55 beobserved that the backer tile l3, as above described, has a height ofthree bricks and two mortar receiving spaces. Above the backer tile I 3is placed a header tile I5 which is the same as the hacker tile l3,except that that portion of 5 the wall 4 and web 6 above the web 8 hasbeen removed, thus providing space to accommodate header brick IS. Theweb 8 of the tile is spaced from the bottom web a distance of two bricksand one mortar receiving space. Both the backer tile and the header tilecan be extruded from the same die. It is necessary only in manufacturingthe header tile to provide a cutting wire to cut off the material abovethe web 8 at the point indicated by the dotted line in Fig. l.

It will be observed that the channel 9 in the upper face of the tilebreaks the mortar joint between the inner and outer walls and that thehandle is wholly in the channel and does not interfere.

While I have described in detail one specific form of tile employing myhandle grip, it is apparent that the same handle grip construction canbe employed in tile of various sizes. For example, if a wider tile isrequired, the outer walls 4 and 5 may comprise a double shell. While Ihave illustrated my tile as having a depth of two bricks between thebottom I and the web 8 and a depth of one brick from the web 8 and thetop wall, it is apparent that the advantages of my construction can beobtained by making the depth of the tile from the web 8 to the bottom ofany desired number of bricks with appropriate allowances for mortarspaces.

I claim:

1. A hollow building tile having a channel provided in the upper surfacethereof and a handle disposedwithin the channel, said handle consistingof a web extending upwardly from the botom of the channel atsubstantially the center thereof and bent over in hook shape providing agrippin end located substantially in the central vertical plane of thetile.

2. A hollow building tile of the extruded type comprising a body portionof hollow side sections and a pair of vertically spaced horizontal websconnecting the side sections, the lower web forming a base with the sidesections and the upper web spaced below the top of the side sections andconstituting the bottom of an open channel at the top of the tilebetween the spaced side sections, a handle disposed within the channeland consisting, of a web of substantially the same thickness as theother webs of the tile and extending upwardly into the channel fromsubstantially the center of the bottom, along one side of the channeland bent to provide a grip, the end of which lies substantially in thecentral vertical plane of the tile.

3. A hollow building tile of the extruded type comprising a body portionmade up of a plurality of longitudinally extending cells forming a base,a pair of longitudinal cells above the base at the sides providing achannel in the upper face of the tile, a web projecting upwardly fromthe bottom of the channel at substantially the center thereof ofi-set atone side of the channel to form a projecting ledge for a finger griplying near the top of the channel with the end of the grip substantiallyin the central vertical plane of the tile.

JOHN W. AKAM.

